o s
pained, and alone. No one can understand what we’ve been through because everyone deals with pain and grief in his or her own way. But there is one wound greater than any we can inflict on another person. What about the wounds we inflict on ourselves?
from it. We would continue our behaviors because we could not draw any other conclu- sions. Consider the gift we’re given each time we walk away from a situation with a greater understanding of who we are and what we have learned. The road to self-forgiveness is long…but there are plenty of signs along the way.
“Believe that we can iron all the wrinkles out of life’s clothes if we just do it.”
Remember, we can learn some of our greatest lessons from the most innocent teachers. A child knows true love of self and his or her surroundings. Arms open wide; they declare that they love …. ‘this much’ …and they are confident in that love.
May we be as that child and say, ‘I love myself this much.’
“When we wrestle with our darkness, we receive both the grace and the blessing of the wound.”
We let a lot get to us everyday. We also blame ourselves for a lot that we have no control over.
We punish ourselves need- lessly when things go wrong. Life lessons are meant to help us, not hinder our progress. Every wound carries a bless- ing; imagine that each time we were hurt or hurt someone that we never learned anything
Linda is the author of Voices of the Heart: A Journey of Faith, Hope and Love. Linda received her Master’s degree in creation spirituality from Holy Names College in Oakland, CA and furthered her studies in clinical pastoral education at the Interfaith Healthcare Ministries in Providence, RI. She is a certified bereavement facilitator, and received certification for spiritual direction from the Mercy Center of Colorado. She lives in Swansea, MA with her husband, Louis. Learn more about Linda at www.
LindaPestana.com
aspiremag.net
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